Berserkers: The Vikings That Took Magic Mushrooms Before Battle | Ancient Black Ops | Chronicle

They are said to be drug-fueled warriors who can turn into wild animals. They are bloodthirsty pagan fanatics who ruthlessly lead the way into

battle

. They are very evil and dangerous knowing that they cannot be trusted to do anything other than kill everything there is. His PA strikes terror into the hearts of peace-loving Christians throughout medieval Europe. These are the Viking Berserkers. They had almost superhuman strength, but it is the last stand of a lone berserker on an English bridge in 1066 that has claimed its place in history as one of the most fearsome. all former Special Forces Just off the northeast coast of England, in Northumberland, lies the sacred island of Lindes, it is the holiest site in medieval England and the scene of one of the bloodiest encounters in history of the country, home of the fanatical Linder monks, the monastery there is full. adorned with beautiful and valuable religious treasures, the people of Anglo-Saxon England in early medieval Europe believed in the protection of saints, so Lindis Van should have been invulnerable, but what the monks don't know is that they came out to see a fleet of strange wooden ships. is approaching them as large ships arrive at Lindis Fern beach, these warriors jump and the monks would have been completely shocked, horrified, the invaders invaded the monastery, mercilessly cut down any man in their path, crushed, grabbed and They looted everything they could.

They collect and bring home gold and silver jewelry. The monks desperately try to hide the monastery's precious artifacts, but they are helpless. It seems that many of the monks had taken refuge at the altar. Some of them were definitely killed there because we. They are told that the altar is splattered with blood. The attack on Linda's fan is brutal and merciless for the holy men. The arrival of these axe-wielding maniacs feels like a punishment from God. They would be completely stunned and amazed that someone would have the temerity to actually attack the house of God, those lucky enough to survive the bloodbath are dragged away and taken prisoner, among them are some of the most respected religious leaders in England. , they will be held for ransom, the rest are destined for slavery, what certainly happened was an unknown number of monks were taken back to the long ships and taken back to Norway, where these particular groups came from.

Slaves were big business. British slaves were sold in fields as far away as Byzantium and Baghdad. They would have taken all the slaves they could in the raid. in the F for Linda marks the beginning of the Viking Age, spelling, I bathed alone yesterday. Today, the fierce raids of the Vikings are a distant memory, however, the Vikings have become fascinating figures and are not always taken seriously. They'll cry over crazy names like Ragnar, Harry Breaks Toe Beard, Sven the Skull Cracker, and Eric the Blood Axe, their perfect fodder for enthusiastic historical re-enactors, but the reality is that they were intrepid explorers and fearless fighters.

Their story begins in the frozen wastes of the Scandinavian countries we now know as Norway, Denmark and Sweden, at home the Vikings faced some of the most brutal living conditions on Earth, with cold, unforgiving winters and lands that a Often covered in snow and ice, it can be difficult to grow food. The Vikings quickly realize that they do want a good life. They will have to steal it, the only way they can do it is to go to the oceans from the end of the 700th century. The Vikings begin to attack places like France, England, Ireland and Scotland from the sea.

You can certainly see them as entrepreneurs who are taking on what could be. perceived as a business opportunity to create wealth for themselves pure capitalist thinking A central element of their success is their assault ship, the Viking longship. Morton round is curator of the Viking Ship Museum in Ros Kilda, Denmark, which should imagine people sitting in each of these positions. here which is marked by the floor timers and you would imagine them sitting there and with an ore out of the holes which you can also see here and row the boat and there will be 26 men on board a boat like this rowing uh 13 in each.

The clinker-style wooden side warships with their characteristic hull shape can carry crews of up to 100 men in the North Sea. The Vikings face icy conditions and rough waters as navigation is critical. They use the sun, the stars, the direction of the wind and even color. and the taste of the sea to help them find their way, but what makes long boats particularly special is their speed with the use of sail and minerals they can reach speeds of up to 15 knots they turn on quickly and with their little holes deep are perfect assault ships, they didn't go that deep into the water, the draft wasn't that great, meaning you could land the ships, but obviously it had to be a sandy beach or something, they are ships that have the same qualities as those used by Special Forces today.

Viking ships have a fairly low profile. They can beach their ships and deploy them again at sea to escape with speed or haste. Sailing the coasts of Europe in their boats. The Vikings are opportunists, but they don't do it. just randomly attack what the

vikings

are looking for are defenseless targets full of valuable treasures, remote monasteries and small isolated villages, they are rich profits, they are targeting the most vulnerable people with the most money, which usually means the church is like the best moment of the Special Forces. is spent on reconnaissance, it is quite possible that they sailed to shore and spotted a likely joint and jumped over the edge of their ship and attacked it for people who live near the sea.

It is difficult to protect against incursions that come out of nowhere. it is impossible to defend an entire coastline it is impossible to control such vast expanses of water you believe the vastness of most coastlines is extremely difficult always looking for easy targets to plunder the

vikings

develop their own special type of lightning assault it is a kind of R, they called Strand Hog, come to a town, people are alert, you move on, you find a little further ahead, you find there is a town and it seems like everyone is asleep, you run to grab what you can get, fast speed, aggression and surprise, you know it's essential. their success, but even when their target is identified, the Raiders not only attack recklessly, the Vikings actually knew, of course, what they were doing when they went out on these raids, they must have had some kind of intelligence to know where to attack and with what force you would probably have scouts ahead knowing where to land or perhaps land your troops in not so hostile areas.

The Vikings are careful to watch their backs and make sure they can get in and out quickly on a raid on a monastery. You probably had some foresight in that: you'd go to the beach, you'd need to leave some people to protect the boats. You know boats can burn and you don't want someone sneaking in and setting them on fire. to them and you will probably instruct people to go out and cover possible escape routes if the mission goes according to plan, the victims will have no idea what is going to happen, they always have the tactical advantage, it is very, very difficult go one step ahead. the vikings because you don't know where they are going to go, in some ways your modern piracy has some kind of parallel, but I think in the tactical sense it is much more similar to terrorism to make them even scarier.

A simple but brutal variety of weapons the Vikings are famously associated with the axe. The ax head of a typical Danish ax is made of iron and steel carefully designed to be light, fast and well balanced. Its blade can be forged to be as thin as just 2.mm, giving it devastating cutting ability. Martin hman is a Danish expert on

ancient

weapons. This is a Dan axe. It is a typical Viking weapon. You would use it with both hands. It's not difficult at all to lift. It's surprisingly light and you can, uh, you can. actually, swing it back like this and then move your hands like this, you gain a lot of momentum on the

battle

field.

The Dan ax is used tactically. You could take this ax out and hook your leg and you could just take it out, take it out and it's. It is also used for killing, if you encounter someone with this type of weapon you better run, but possibly the most terrifying and deadly weapon of all is the double edged sword, the most prized of all Viking weapons, often It is passed down from father to son, a Viking warrior. I would learn the technique from an early age Viking sword is made of steel, typical weight is around 1kg on the battlefield Viking sword can deal death in various vicious ways, it is definitely a cutting weapon for cutting, too It can be used to stab and if it doesn't kill the victim, it is guaranteed to maim them.

This sword could definitely tear off a leg and a hand. By this I mean, this is, I mean, this is as brutal and aggressive as war can put you so high. Up close and personal, they use weapons and weapons so heavy that they have just been an absolutely brutal historical success. It is an award-winning streaming platform created by history fans for history fans to enjoy our rich library of documentaries covering key events and locations from the medieval period. Offering articles from leading historians such as Dan Jones, Elena Yega and Kat Jman, not only that, but we also have a rich library of audio documentaries covering every period in History through our network of podcasts.

Sign up now for a free trial and Chronicle fans will get 50% off. The first 3 months just make sure to use the code Chronicle at checkout. The remains of Viking victims throughout northern England show the damage inflicted by the Viking ax and the Viking sword. Their weapons, coupled with the sheer fighting prowess of the Vikings, make them a terrifying prospect to all who encounter them from the 8th century to the 11th century. Bands of Vikings launch larger and larger attacks on more and more communities, and they don't just use brute force to seize land, gold, and slaves.

The Vikings have even more sinister methods. I'm pretty sure people were killed and tortured into telling where they had hidden their valuables. There were probably a lot of murders just for the sake of it, just to create the type of Terror to intimidate people and make them obedient. It has been a terrifying and violent experience for the victims of the Vikings, but if the Vikings are the special forces of their time within their bands of warriors, they have an even more elite team, Seal Team Six, they are known as the Berserkers, They were ruthless. Warriors who would stop at nothing to slaughter their opponents, had absolutely no fear of injury or death, were supposed to have chewed through their shields, howled horribly, went berserk in battle and could not be trusted to do anything. more than killing everything that was in their parents.

They are very bad and dangerous to know, oh, today I will find the axe. Berserkers are objects of fascination for children's fantasy characters, so much so that computer games are built around them. They are depicted as giant trolls and ogres that fight fiercely, painted as superhumans. If you are a very powerful Legend star, you will often have a horned helmet because, although everyone knows that the Vikings did not wear horned helmets, it is almost a trademark, but the Berserkers were real, one of the strongest evidence about the existence of the Berserkers. Are these chess pieces discovered around 1831 found on the Scottish Isle of Lewis in the Outer Herds?

They date from the 12th or 13th century and appear to represent Berserkers. Four of the towers actually depict warriors biting down on shields and actually physically have teeth. They stick out from the edge of the shield and what they really represent to us is a medieval Scandinavian idea of ​​what a Berserker was. They are also mentioned in poetry or schalcan verse and in the sagas of

ancient

Viking historical tales written between the 9th and 14th centuries. When you look at Saga Traditions, the Berserkers appear one or two, usually their brothers or maybe in numbers up to a dozen, they are not common, they were professional warriors, big guys, the best of the best of a Viking king or a band of Lord's War.

They consider themselves elite members of society. Any ship sailing to England can contain Berserkers if it contains members of the king's warband who serve as a bodyguard of sorts. They are at the forefront of an attack. They are the core around which an army can be built. They are the ones who will lead the way into battle when they step forward, everyone else must go with them as the most terrifying of all Viking warriors. There is every reason to believe that they were even bigger and strongerthan normal Vikings, but it is their Behavior for which they are most famous and which generates the English word Berserk.

Once they go crazy, there may be dead people lying everywhere before they calm down. However, it's something else that really sets them apart. Berserkers have unusual ways of preparing for this. Ancient battle depictions of Berserkers appear to show muscular warriors wearing these skins with wild animal heads. B is believed to derive from the ancient nasal word oso meaning bear or naked or from an ancient nasal word Berry meaning bear, so it means bear-shirted or bear-skinned, Legends say that by wearing animal skins , Berserkers gain special powers that can shapeshift and transform into wild animals, it is a feeling of entering the spirit world in a sense and taking on the characteristics of the animal you are trying to get into contact with. contact is that the Berserkers are the creators of the werewolf.

The Berserkers were not werewolves. Let's start with that. People have seen the Berserker as a werewolf, someone who physically changes shape. in an animal, they most likely assumed the Persona of the animal and adopted the attributes of the animal to take them into battle, so they came in as strong as a bear or as ferocious as a wolf, you are not going to literally become a bear or a wolf , but you want to have that strength, that ferocity by wearing animal skins and very little armor, the Berserker not only lessens the divide between himself and the animal he is trying to emulate.

He also grants her mystical powers. They were perceived as invulnerable or capable of dulling swords. They couldn't be hurt anywhere where they wore these coats, but the Berserker has another secret weapon to help him prepare and it may very well help him believe in his animalistic abilities. Magic

mushrooms

, their correct name is ammonite muscaria, are very common, I mean, they are widespread throughout the northern hemisphere and up to the kind of subarctic, um. Your classic fairy tale mushroom, the bright red one with white spots, is commonly called the Fly Mushroom or the Flying Garrick because it is reputed to kill insects, but

mushrooms

also have another effect that could help a warrior reach the state. mental suitable for a fight they have a psychoactive drug inside that will give you depending on the dose uh a trip the idea that someone could use drugs to prepare for battle is not that far-fetched there were cases in World War II where German forces were given amphetamines The Nazis developed an early form of crystal methamphetamine to help their troops stay alert in Vietnam.

The US military gave amphetamines to soldiers to heighten their senses on missions, but for Berserkers, their drug of choice is so toxic that it must be prepared in a certain way, mushroom caps are dried, They are ground up and made into a hot drink to aid the process, mixed with alcohol, presumably in those days it would have been something I would have liked to just wash it off and quickly dissolve the chemicals into the liquid. It is this practice of stewing the caps in liquid that acts as a catalyst in the body's absorption of the drug. alcohol will also affect the reaction.

Alcohol, of course, will help the condition. I mean, one of the things we think we don't realize is Mood affects results immensely and we've known that for years with other psychoactive drugs. The mood the person is in when taking the mushroom has a huge effect on the type of result he gets approximately 30 minutes after the Berserker. takes his mushroom potion, it is supposed to take effect, there are a large number of effects that can be found, the most common are muscle spasms, sweating, salivation, increased saliva production, the Berserker literally begins to foam at the mouth, of course, one of the problems as with all drugs.

They have side effects: they can cause amnesia and fainting with large doses. Nausea. It is commonly recorded. It is one of the most common side effects. Carefully examine vomiting. Redness. Often the sense of balance apparently becomes AR. These side effects are so serious that some suggest that the The idea that the Vikings consumed

magic

mushrooms is a myth. A scientific study conducted in the late 1950s suggested that if they had consumed

magic

mushrooms they probably would not have been in a position to fight; however, some experts disagree that they were ever in use. 2 3,000 years probably something in that order, so it is very unlikely that the Vikings would not have known about the fungus and it seems that the Berserkers may have found an ingenious way to avoid unpleasant reactions when the fungus passes through the body and is It removes some of its toxins We know that drinking urine is one of the most common ways to dilute the unpleasant side effects and increase the potency of the chemical.

This means that only one Berserker needs to experience the bad reactions caused by the mushrooms, the other Berserkers simply need to drink their urine, this seems to eliminate the toxic side effects, but leaves the hallucinogens. I read a report where they thought that one would eat it after urine, another person would eat it, someone would drink their urine and so on up to five more times. That one ingestion of the mushroom would actually help quite a few people afterwards is why mushroom experts are convinced of the use of magic mushrooms as a means to achieve battle rage.

I would be very surprised if they did not use them in some of their ceremonies, my feeling is that this may not have been the sole cause of their enormous strength and aggression, but I suspect it was a definite means of speeding up this process. Full of adrenaline, anger, and I suspect the mushroom would have been the added extra, so using his wild animal skin and drugging, the Berserker is almost ready, but there is one last thing he needs to prepare him for battle like all the others. vikings Berserkers are religious fanatics to whom they are completely devoted. one pagan god in particular, Odin Odin is the supreme Norse god, he is the god of war and the Berserkers had the idea that they were actually chosen by Odin, that they did not actually choose to be a Berserker, that it was Odin who chose them with desire to please.

Odin, a chance to fight for him and die for him is a privilege for a Berserker. You honored Odin if you killed someone in battle and you honored him by dying in battle, so the battle was beneficial to everyone. What they wanted most. Death in battle was a guarantee that you would go to Valhalla Valhalla is the paradise of warriors in the afterlife as the jihadists of the 21st century, the Berserker imagines that by giving his life in the heat of battle he will guarantee great glory and rewards there Valhalla is a giant Hall of the Lord where they party all night and then go out during the day and fight all day preparing for Ragnarok, the last day when all the gods will die.

Ragnarok marks the end of the universe, but the Vikings stand at Odin's side for the greatest battle of all. It is the ultimate honor, it is the positive welcome to death that makes the Berserker the most fearsome of all medieval warriors, assisted by the alcohol with hallucinogens pumping through his body with the characteristics of a wild animal entering his psyche and fully prepared to die in glory. Berserker arrives at the crazed gang, the Fury battle with his teeth bared, howling and snarling, faces his opposition, how he might as well have been chanting spells behind that Shield, truly enlivening one of the best modern analogies, as well it could be the All Blacks doing it. a hacker is designed to be scary is designed to make you feel strong and Invincible Berserkers have a tremendous psychological effect on their enemy.

I think he would have been very intimidating to ordinary peasants like the Anglo-Saxons who reluctantly joined in to fight. It is awful. They may have never been in battle before in their lives, they really want to live and they come back and take care of the cows and see their families again 100 meters away, on the other side, there they are howling and biting their shields, they just want . to run at you and cut you into pieces, they went into a very intense and angry state where they had almost superhuman strength and if they were hurt they didn't feel it, they just continued with this large dose of fungus, they may not really know what is happening, except they just attack anyone in front of them like a loose cannon, you just point it in the right direction and let them continue.

Viking raids across Europe increase attacks on small towns and villages. and looting, they raise peasants' houses to the ground and massacre entire communities. Eventually, the Vikings bring their own families to settle in their conquered lands around 8:40. This is the point at which the Vikings actually begin to build permanent bases rather than returning home for the winter, you place your ships within the protection of a wall, spend the winter there, and as soon as spring arrives, you can attack again early, so the attack season extends to about 9 months a year instead of 3 months. In the summer of the year, with the Berserkers at their heart, the Vikings managed to cultivate a vast trading empire in the 11th century.

His conquests stretched from Iceland in the north to the Mediterranean Sea in the south and from New Land in the west to Constantinople and the Caspian. Sea in the East, but it is an event on an English autumn day in 1066 that will go down in history as the berserker's finest hour. More than 300 Viking ships carrying up to 14,000 men approach the northeast coast of England, led by the Norwegian king Harold Hardrada. Hardrada is an exceptional warrior, he has fought in the Bulans and throughout the Baz Antine empire and has managed to seize the Norwegian crown. He now he's hungry for more.

He has a very clear political ambition and that is to make a good claim to the English throne. The target is the largest city in the north of England. York, the royal viking army first lands on scabra and plunders the place. He burns it to the ground to show the local population that resistance is futile. They are moving to the Humber Ester and then upriver to capture it. The biggest prize in all the capital of North York or Nor Yorvik York is under English control, but the most important thing is that the Vikings had conquered the city exactly 200 years earlier and consider it theirs.

For the Vikings it is their home, so now they are back. to claim what they class as their city and for Hrada York is just the beginning, he believes that if he takes it the rest of the country will fall into his hands after a great victory on the outskirts of the city, York surrenders to him, He thinks that the war has been won that the English crown is his. He is so confident that he has even sent a third of his army back to the Viking fleet 12 miles upriver, but what Hrada doesn't know is that his nemesis is arriving, the newly crowned Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson.

I heard about the Viking king's intentions. He has arrived quickly from London with an army of some 15,000 hours. The Vikings, on the other hand, are bathing in his victory. If you can imagine it was hot, the troops walked 12 M, he probably had headaches since the night before. from the revin i imagine quite a few would just lie down on the grassy benches there is a relaxed atmosphere in the air it is hot sunny probably sunbathing at the moment we understand that they initially glimpsed some dust on the horizon which would indicate a coming from a party Hrada had been awaiting the arrival of some dignitaries from York for a simple transfer of hostages ensuring the surrender of the city what he sees is King Harold and his vast Anglo-Saxon army Hardrada realizes that he has made a terrible mistake, he is completely stupefied and in Surprise, he was not expecting this at all and the worst problem he faces now is that he has an army that is outnumbered and also unarmed and under armored with his troops on both sides of the river.

Durent Hrada needs to regroup. The only way to do this is to get all your men to the east side of the river through the only crossing point, a narrow wooden bridge to form a defensive line, most manage to cross, but then the Anglo-Saxons appear, this is when hrada turns to one of his special forces he calls a viking berserker his task is to buy time for his king it is an extraordinary situation only one man against an entire army first he evokes the spirit of a wild animal consumes the stewed amantia muscaria mushrooms and begins to feel the strengthening effects of the hallucinogen, he believes he has the strength of a wild bear who, with his naked skin as armor, his body will repel the Anglo-Saxon weapons, who will be invulnerable, foaming at the moue in soll to Odin and dreaming of his place at the banquet table at Valhalla the great warrior reaches the height of his crazed gang and goes out to the bridge oh no, this Berserker armed with his danx faces the 15,000 men of King Harold.

You can imagine a kind of confrontation by which he was buying time by givinghis life. Buying time for the rest of the army, one by one the brave soldiers of King Harold's army confront the great Viking warrior on the bridge and one by one they are killed on a narrow front, probably only one or two men would have been able to attack. him at a time, you can imagine that even if he were sending people at a rate of one every 30 seconds, he could have held them for 10 minutes a quarter of an hour or more the body count in English Assemble according to the Anglo-Saxon

chronicle

each person who tries to cross the bridge over 40 Anglo-Saxon soldiers killed by this Berserker but finally succumbs, the count says that he was finally killed by an Englishman who fell under the bridge with a spear and caught him from below with his death the The Vikings are defeated Harold hrada will die with an arrow in the throat despite the defeat the actions of this great warrior are celebrated in the history books of the time, but it is ironic that the fight at Stamford Bridge can be considered the greatest resistance of the berserker, but it also marks the beginning of the end of the Viking Age at the beginning of the 11th century and, indeed, by 1066 the

berserkers

are becoming a dying race.

There is a more powerful force at work than that of the pagan gods. Many Vikings have converted from paganism to a more widespread race. belief system the demise of the Pagan Berserker comes with the advent of Christianity Christianity probably had some sort of neutralizing effect once everyone is part of the same Club then they tend not to attack each other in the same way that years of Viking tradition did. are. slowly eroded the Scandinavians begin to convert to Christianity in the 10th century, you know, the first Sweden of Denmark is the last, but even at the end of the 11th century, Sweden is mainly Christian, some Berserkers cling to their paganism, but gradually the The purity of their army and the weakening of magical power will eventually disappear completely in Icelandic legal codes.

Going mad was banned in the 12th century. Finally, maddening gangs and the rituals that induce it are considered so degenerate that they are unacceptable in today's moderate society. Nordic men's efforts still captivate and entertain us; The Vikings may no longer evoke fear and horror like they did 1,200 years ago, but their elite special unit, the Berserkers, continue to captivate us thanks to a 250e reign of terror that we can. I can't help but admire his heroism, his iconic fantasy image and his frenetic animal brilliance on the battlefield, oh that.